The Tempest: Plot Summary (AQA GCSE English Literature): Revision Note

To prepare for the AQA GCSE Literature exam, it is best to have a thorough knowledge of the plot of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. While the exam question does not require you to recite the events in the play, becoming familiar with the structure and key plot points will help you track the development of characters or themes.

Overview of The Tempest

The Tempest, written by the playwright William Shakespeare, is considered a comedy. It includes typically comedic events involving disguise and deception, tangled romantic plots, and a denouement (opens in a new tab) that restores a sense of order through marriage. However this, Shakespeare’s last play, performed in 1611 at a time of great expansion for the British Empire, combines elements of a tragedy (opens in a new tab) too. This may be why so much of the play presents characters who are native or new to an exotic land, characters who betray and deceive for political gain, and a protagonist (opens in a new tab) who, having had his power stolen from him, is eager to control the island on which he has settled.

 As the play progresses, Shakespeare depicts the way people’s loss of dignity and sense of betrayal causes them to act poorly, misuse their knowledge, and deceive old allies. Nevertheless, The Tempest’s light-hearted presentation of innocent love, magical spells, music, and supernatural spirits creates a light mood. The play concludes with a humbled Prospero who has learned that mercy and forgiveness are better than revenge. It is argued that Shakespeare ends his final play hinting that he, in fact, is Prospero, having tired of weaving elaborate plots and realising his own mortality. The Tempest illustrates the drama of life, and suggests that control over any of the events in it is an illusion.

Act-by-act plot summary

Act 1

• The play opens with a ship struggling against a stormy sea

• Audiences are introduced to the boatswain, and King Alonso and his men:

  • The boatswain tries to insist that the king’s men go below deck and let the sailors do their best to steer the boat safely, but they are ignored

• In Scene 2, Prospero explains to his daughter, Miranda, that the storm will not kill the men, but will bring justice to the traitors who exiled them to the island:

  • He describes how his brother Antonio betrayed him and took his dukedom, but that Gonzalo, his friend, brought Prospero’s valuable books to the boat

  • Audiences learn that Prospero’s books contain knowledge that creates magic and that he wears a cloak that can make him invisible

• Prospero makes Miranda fall asleep so that he can summon Ariel:

  • Ariel, a spirit of the island under Prospero’s control, describes how the storm destroyed the ship as per Prospero’s instructions, but that the men are alive

  • When Ariel asks again to be released from Prospero’s control, he is told there is still more to do and sent on another errand

• Miranda is awoken, and they visit Caliban, a native of the island, who used to be a friend, but is now Prospero’s slave:

  • Audiences learn that Miranda hates Caliban for betraying her trust: she taught him English and, in return, he assaulted her in a bid to make her his “queen”

• Caliban and Prospero share insults and debate ownership of the island:

  • Audiences learn about Caliban’s mother, Sycorax, who died on the island during Ariel’s imprisonment; when Prospero arrived, he freed Ariel and took ownership of the island away from Caliban, next in line

• Ariel’s next job is to find Ferdinand, the king’s son, and cast a spell on him:                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

  • Ariel leads Ferdinand into a trap with invisible music and Miranda (watching from afar) comments on what a strange but beautiful looking man he is

  • Prospero accuses Ferdinand of being a spy and makes him work in order to prove his worth

Act 2 

• The second act, the rising action (opens in a new tab), opens on the other side of the island, where the king and some of his men have washed up on shore:

  • King Alonso thinks his son, Ferdinand, has been lost at sea, and the men argue about what to do next

• Ariel, invisible, casts a spell that puts Alonso and the all the men except Antonio and Sebastian to sleep:

  • While they sleep unaware of Ariel’s magic, Antonio suggests this is a good moment to kill Alonso and set in motion a plan to make Antonio king instead

  • The scene shifts from dark to comedic as Ariel wakes up Gonzalo and the men pretend their swords are drawn against lions and monsters

• Elsewhere on the island, Caliban meets some of the other shipwrecked men who have washed up on a different part of the island:

  • Trinculo and Stephano are drunk and they stumble upon Caliban

  • At first they think he is a monster, but they give him alcohol, which he has never had before

  • In this dark, comedic scene, Caliban begins to think Stephano is a god

Act 3

• Ferdinand is now working for Prospero, where Miranda visits him often:

  • They fall in love and express their desire to marry as an invisible Prospero listens and schemes 

• Scene 2 is elsewhere on the island, and a drunken Caliban pleads with his new ‘god’, Stephano, to help him kill Prospero, who has stolen his island:

  • Ariel, invisible, plays a trick on them: she accuses Caliban of lying in Stephano’s voice, and a comical argument breaks out

  • But Caliban’s praise of Stephano persuades him, and they head out together

• In Scene 3, Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio and Gonzalo search for Ferdinand:

  • Antonio, however, is certain that this strange island is the perfect place to kill King Alonso and establish his own power back in Milan

  • Ariel appears as a “harpy” (a mythical half-bird

  • , half-woman figure) at a feast that night, and warns them they will pay for their sins

• In the climax (opens in a new tab) of the play, Prospero decides the work has been done and everyone is under his control

Act 4

• Act 4, the falling action (opens in a new tab), is full of spectacle and supernatural spirits to signify Prospero’s success

• He apologises to Ferdinand and Miranda and, to celebrate their wedding, he calls on the spirits of the island who arrive with songs paying tribute to love 

• Ariel is told she will be released from Prospero’s rule after one final task: to stop Caliban and to bring the king and his men to him:

• Audiences see Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban making their way to his cell:

  • Spirit-like dogs are released to find them and bring them to receive justice

Act 5

• In Scene I, Ariel tells Prospero that the time has come for his release, and that the men have learned their lesson and are confused and scared

• In a soliloquy (opens in a new tab), Prospero comes to a moment of realisation or anagnorisis, that he should forgive his enemies, and give up his books and magic

• Prospero reveals himself to King Alonso as the former duke of Milan, and offers forgiveness for the betrayals against him in return for his title and passage to Milan

• Alonso explains that he is mourning the death of his son, Ferdinand, and Prospero replies that he also lost his daughter in the storm:

  • He presents an image showing Miranda and Ferdinand together

• Ariel releases a shocked Caliban, who is advised to heed Prospero’s compassion:

  • Caliban answers that he will be “wise” from that point on, and not worship people so easily again 

• Prospero asks Ariel to see them safely to Italy and then he will be free

• In an epilogue, Prospero addresses the audience, begging them to “set him free” too, suggesting that his magical knowledge has been overthrown or taken from him

Source

https://shakespeare.mit.edu/tempest/full.html (opens in a new tab)